Ah, the glamorous life of an NFL cheerleader: swimsuit calendars, great tans, the swooning hearts of men everywhere ...

And poverty.

Well, it's not quite that bad. But a new report in TBD.com shows just how hard it is for these ladies to make split ends meet.

The story meticulously goes through the price of looking not only gorgeous, but more gorgeous than the other dozens of aspirants for the few NFL jobs. Some examples:

Audition-day make-up: $75.

Gym membership: $36.99 per month.

Skin tinting: $45.

Hair extensions: $270.

Jazz dancing class: $15 per session.

LASIK eye surgery: $1,500-$2,200.

That doesn't include clothes -- both workout wear and nicer apparel for public appearances. And of course, it doesn't include salon time.

And what do the cheerleaders get as a return on investment? Around $75 per home game. That's just north of $20 per hour, which can be earned through a nice babysitting gig in a tony suburb.

An entire season can add up to less than $1,000, the story reports. (Some teams make even less than $75 a game.)

For those Neanderthals out there who think all cheerleaders are dingbats, many have college degrees and many have jobs in the nursing or teaching industries. Competition is fierce, so intellect and background are nearly as crucial as looks.

And don't think the lockout gives cheerleaders the summer "off." Teams are still visiting hospitals and entertaining the troops. The Jaguars' team even has the equivalent of two-a-days this summer, with three-hour practices in 90-degree heat and humidity. "It's business as usual," says Jaguars team manager Christy Zynda.

Too bad business is not always as beautiful as it seems.

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When an actor wants to convincingly play a boxing champ on screen, he's got to go directly to the source. And that means bringing on a real former champ as a consultant. It's his job to make sure the actor stands, moves, and, most of all, punches like a true fighter.

As the boxing consultant for the upcoming movie "Real Steel," former world champion Sugar Ray Leonard had a unique challenge. Not only did he need to make star Hugh Jackman look like an actual boxer, Leonard was also responsible for showing 8-foot-tall, 2000 lbs. robots how to fight, too.

The movie takes place in the near future, where human-controlled robots have taken over the sport of boxing. Jackman plays Charlie Kenton, a one-time contender who's now just scraping by with shoddy robots in underground fights. But with the help of his son, Charlie trains a rescued robot and turns it into a potential champ.

The film's director, Shawn Levy, told the Wall Street Journal he was looking for a boxing consultant for two reasons: "To vet the story, and just as importantly, to work with Hugh on the mindset of being a former boxer." And few others have the credentials of Sugar Ray Leonard. He was an Olympic gold medalist; he won world championships in five weight classes; and he was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.

"I worked with Hugh on proper execution of punches and the emotional content between the boxer and the trainer," Leonard told Yahoo! Movies in an email interview.

The former champ stressed the importance of eye contact and focus, which was a particular challenge since Jackman was working with actual, life-size animatronic robots in addition to entirely computer-generated characters.

The filmmakers also used Leonard's expertise to make the boxing scenes as real as possible. They used boxers with motion capture suits to create the fights, and the director and Leonard were able to actually see on a monitor how the robots would interact in real time. Jackman told WSJ.com, "We have 20 robots and each has to be incredibly distinct, and he really gave them all signature moves."

Leonard said that the problem with most boxing movies is "they leave out the execution of throwing proper punches. It doesn't appear very real without this execution." Since this movie is already dealing with the fantastical concept of oversized robots battling each other, it became all the more necessary for the boxing action to feel legitimate. Leonard concluded, "There are ways to sensationalize the punches for the movie but there are still other ways to make it look real."

Leonard had high praise for the movie's star, saying "Hugh ... has a great passion for the sport of boxing." But when I asked if Jackman could have stood a chance in the ring against Leonard in his prime, he answered with an unequivocal "No."

We all know what The Rock has been cooking lately: A huge box office hit. Fast Five is just the latest chapter in the actor's thrill ride of a career. But as he tells Yahoo! Movies in this exclusive interview, the transition from defensive lineman at the University of Miami to the wrestling ring and then the big screen was more than a little bit difficult.